The art of snubbing heretics

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Ms. Kitty, a UU minister, writes in her blog about the subject of "reaching out to conservative pastors". She relates an anecdote that says so much in a nutshell:

One of the pastors, a volunteer chaplain at the hospital, was asked (when I was getting ready to start volunteering myself) by the coordinator to show me around and teach me the ropes of informal chaplaincy. He turned down the request because I'm not the right kind of Christian, i.e., someone who believes that Jesus was God.

The coordinator was a little abashed at telling me the news but I read his mind, when he said that he'd been turned down. "Is it because of our different theology?" I asked. He said yes and I theorized that it was because of our differing Christology (though I didn't use that word). He acknowledged that was the case.

I was frustrated but not surprised. The implication seemed to be that somehow meeting with me would be a betrayal of his belief system, that he would endanger his soul by helping me learn the hospital's chaplaincy procedures, that his congregation would disapprove.

2 comments:

Lilylou said...

Thanks for the link, Mystical Seeker. The lunch went well, though the aforementioned pastor did not show. Maybe he will come next time, since we agreed to meet quarterly as a larger group. So there may be hope!

existentialist said...

Try being excommunicated.